


Goodbye, Endora

by KatLeePT



Category: Bewitched
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 17:58:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5100257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatLeePT/pseuds/KatLeePT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the end comes, Darrin stands by Endora.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodbye, Endora

"Endora?" Darrin asks uncertainly, closing the door behind him and edging slowly into the room lit only by a few remaining candles. He's still waiting for the old Witch to show her hand and prove that this is just another trick in her never-ending line of them to make him look bad in front of her daughter, his wife. Although they've been married for forty years now, Endora still doesn't approve of him and never stops trying to make Sam, as she calls it, "come to her senses".

"Come here, Darwood." Endora motions for him to come to the side of the bed where she's lain apparently weak and vulnerable for days. It's still hard for him to think of her as being vulnerable, but she seems to show every bit of her age now. Her skin is wrinkled, and her voice creaks like that step he keeps forgetting to fix. Yet he still can't forget that she could snuff him out of existence with little more than a thought if Samantha hadn't told her so many times that killing him would only make her hate her.

He's thankful for his wife's loyalty, but he knows he doesn't deserve it. She could have so much more than him. She could have a rich husband or a powerful husband. She could have married a Warlock as her parents wanted her to and never have to face him growing old without her. He didn't think Witches really got old, but Endora is practically ancient.

Still, she manages to snap, "I'm not going to call you again, Darwood. Come here, or I'll make you come here."

"I'm here," he says, finally arriving at her side. "What do you want?"

Endora sighs. He watches her carefully, but all he sees is a very old and even more troubled woman. It seems impossible that she should be aging so swiftly. It almost hurts to see her like this. "This disease," he speaks softly.

"Curse," she snaps.

"Curse," he manages to say the word with an almost straight face. "Are you sure there's no cure for it?"

"Samantha is trying to find one. She's been trying to find the Warlock who cursed me ever since I came to her." Endora seems to want to say more, but coughing claims her words. Darrin reaches out to her as the coughing begins to sound as though it's choking her, but she swats his hands away with one hand. Her other hand grabs her own throat. At last, she ceases coughing and lays back in the bed, clearly even more weak now than before. "The poor dear's not going to make it in time."

Her eyes roll up to look at him. "Don't talk like that," he says, but she snorts as she so often does when he says something she thinks utterly stupid and very mortally inept.

"I never understood what she saw in you, Diddleweed. I never will. But for whatever reason, she loves you." Darrin gasps with surprise as Endora grabs his hand. "Don't let her love you in vain."

"I . . . I love her too, you know," Darrin says, uncertain what else to say.

"Don't let her find this Warlock," Endora pleads with him. "Don't let her lose her way. If you love her, keep her safe."

"I -- I -- " Darrin stammers. Samantha is so much stronger than he, and she's so stubborn. He's learned better than to think he can change her mind when she's set on something, and besides, this Warlock does need to be stopped.

"Not by her," Endora speaks as though she can read his mind, and Darrin wonders if she really can. "You never did learn to block your thoughts, Darwood. There's so much you haven't learned." Another coughing fit seizes her before she can continue to condescend him.

"Endora," he calls to her, holding tightly to her hand. This time, she doesn't pull away, and he realizes he's even more frightened when she actually leans in to him. Still, he holds her. She is his wife's mother, after all.

"Pr-Promise me, Darwood."

"I -- I promise," he says, knowing not else what to say.

"Samantha, Samantha! Come to me, my darling girl," Endora calls, "before it's too late!"

"Mom? Mom!" Samantha rushes to her mother's side.

Endora gazes at them both, tears in her eyes. Then, with her last bit of strength, she takes Samantha's hand and places it into Darrin's. "Keep your promise, Darwood," she coughs, "Darrin." Her eyes close.

Samantha falls on top of her stilled body, clinging to her mother and crying. Warlocks and Witches alike, all those who have been helping Samantha in her search for the Warlock who did this to her mother, flood the room, and in the midst of their power, Darrin stands, feeling more alone than ever before. He rubs his wife's back reassuringly. "What did she make you promise?" Samantha asks, looking up at him through the tears that flood her despairing vision.

"We'll talk about it later," he says quietly, softly, then moves aside for her father. He could never stop Samantha from anything she really wanted to do. He knows that, but he knows, too, that she'll honor her mother. She'll listen to him and not continue after the Warlock. It was her mother's dying wish, after all.

He blinks back tears, then feels a soft hand on his shoulder. He turns around and looks down to see Samantha's dotty aunt looking caringly up at him. They say nothing at first, but at last, he is embraced by the one woman in Samantha's family who never judged him. "You are good enough for her," Aunt Clara whispers finally, "even if Endora never knew it."

He looks back at Sam, Maurice, and Endora's body. Maybe she did know it, he finally realizes. Maybe that's why he wanted her to make that promise. Maybe that's why she finally called him by name. He wasn't really good enough for Sam. No man was, but he was the closest there'd ever be.

Releasing Clara and letting go into another family member's arms, Darrin walks back over to his wife and takes her in his arms. He'll do what he can to protect her until his dying breath, but he knows, just like Endora, that it will come too soon and Sam will never be ready to tell him goodbye. Mortal or Witch, they never are ready to tell any one they love goodbye. That thought resonating in his mind, he blinks back his tears and gazes at Endora's still body. _Goodbye_ , he thinks, _Endora, and thank you for letting me love your baby girl._

  
**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.


End file.
